V is for Victory.
This year REA put forward a fresh new band. Hot Property. And they won!

V is for 5.
This is the 5^th year Battle of the Agile Bands has run. We had 5 bands.

The night started out with an Intro from Nigel Dalton.

First timers Common Code drew the difficult first spot for the battle of the bands. Their 4 piece kicked off with a moody Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds song “Babe, I’m on Fire”. They encouraged the audience to sing along with “In Manyero” (sp?) and ended with an original song chanting “We are the manifestos”, “We’re all Agile” and posing the question are you Agile? The crowd lapped it up. A great way to kick off the evening’s entertainment.

Second band from Seek opened with organ and quickly had the audience singing along to George Michael’s “Faith”.   Then “Raspberry Beret” and continued the 80s theme with Bowie’s “Let’s Dance”. Seek were probably the best band of the night to work a theme. Next was Prince’s “Kiss” showcasing funky bass and guitar.

V is for Valerie.
Three bands independently chose the Zutons song “Valerie”. First to come on over were Seek.

They wrapped the set with “Let’s go crazy”. Really fun choices.

 

Envato’s band “The Envatones” were third. They had an interesting lineup with violin, trombone, sax. After a short warm up they ripped in to “Valerie”, an even more up beat version than Seek. Crowd loved it. “Come on Eileen” had the whole pub singing along.

 

By the time the REA band Hot Property took the stage the John Curtain was buzzing and a chant of R.E.A. started. REA worked the theatrical angle really well, starting dead-pan with solo tambourine with Jet’s “Are you gonna be my girl” then turning the energy level up to 11 as the band came in. Next was a punchy, punky version of Natalie Imbruglia’s “Torn”. It’s not the first time Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger” has made an appearance at #botab, but the crowd lapped it up like kittens. By the time REA played the sultry “Black Velvet” it was obvious that REA would be contenders for this year’s Battle. Next up the third rendition of “Valerie”. REA mixed it up by starting slow and then bursting into a fast and fun version as their two women singers exchanged lines of the song. Last song with pyrotechnics was Tina Turner’s “The Best”. Indeed!

ThoughtWorks band Sparkle Motion have been past winners and opened with violin and the second “Come on Eileen” of the night. Could they top REA’s performance? The crowd practically erupted in joy as they played the Ghost Busters theme. The song had sax and electric violin, great keyboard sounds and even a live ghostly apparition on stage. “We love the 80s”. Who doesn’t. “Let’s hear it for the 80s”.   The whole pub sang along to “Our House”. Boney M’s “Rasputin” was wonderful with violin, a ripping bass line and disco drums. “Hey hey hey” they chanted. The final song from ThoughtWorks had solos from all of the band. Could they win?

We were treated to an encore performance from Envato’s other band! A rousing version of “Mr Brightside” that had everyone singing along. A great way to finish off the evening.

 

In the end it was REA’s day. They were the judges unanimous favourite. It was a fun, consistent set. Really well played and great song choices. (Except for Valerie.)

The charity Flying Robot School will receive the proceeds of the night. $4750!